Henry Pigott

Henry Robert Maguire Pigott (2 October 1866 – 8 July 1949) was an Australian politician. He was born in Ceylon of British parents, and attended the London School for the Sons of Missionaries. He emigrated to Australia in 1885, becoming a bank officer, and a stock and station agent. He owned land at Tottenham in 1910. In 1913, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Commonwealth Liberal Party, defeating Labour member for Calare Thomas Brown. He held the seat until 1919 (during which time the Liberal Party had become the Nationalist Party), when he was defeated by Labor's Thomas Lavelle. An attempt to regain the seat as a member of the newly formed Country Party in 1922 was unsuccessful. He subsequently became a grazier and a leader in the farming community.cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=Australian Election Archive|work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia|year=2008|accessdate=2008-05-11] He died in 1949.

Harry PIGOTT was born in Matakuliyah, Colombo, Ceylon, on 2 Oct 1866, son of Baptist Missionaries, Rev Henry Robert PIGOTT & his wife Ellen GILES. He left his first job with the Bank of Australasia in London, & arrived in Sydney on the R.M.S. "Sutlej" on 10 Jul 1884, subsequently working for the Australian Joint Stock Bank in Burwood, Grafton, Cooma, Milton, Wingham, & as Manager in Blayney from Jan 1893, & where he resigned in 1900. He opened a Stock & Station Agency in Adelaide St, Blayney, which he ran until selling the business to his off-sider, Creel PRICE, in 1932.Harry represented Blayney at conferences of the Farmers & Settlers Association from 1909 until 1941. He first contested the federal seat of Calare in 1910, losing to the sitting Labor member Thomas BROWN. He resisted party attempts to persuade him to stand for the State seat of Blayney, keeping himself in reserve for another attempt on Calare, which he won in 1913, & successfully defended in 1914 & 1917, despite his support for conscription. In 1918, he was implicated in an "intrigue" between the official Labor party & a "cave" within the Nationalists, led by a Mr Tudor, in which he was to have proposed an amendment in a no-confidence debate which Labor would have supported, resulting in the defeat of the government. He vigorously declined to be so involved, & reported the move to the government whip. He lost the seat to Labor in the general elections in the following year, 1919. He stood again for Calare in 1922, with virtually no chance of success, in a three-way contest won by Sir Neville HOWSE, V.C.After retiring from business, Harry grazed his property, "Cadara", near Tottenham, commuting between it & his summer house "Iona" in Blayney, until his final retirement to Fairlight, near Manly, in 1945. He died at Manly on 8 Jul 1849, & was buried in Blayney Cemetery. He married in the Blayney Manse, on 23 Mar 1898, Margaret Paton ADAM (1874-1960), daughter of Rev James ADAM, Presbyterian Pioneer Minister in the Lachlan Valley District, by Elizabeth SPENCE. They had 3 sons, Henry Robert ("Bob" - Schoolmaster, The King's School Parramatta, St Peter's College Adelaide, & Brisbane Grammar School), James Adam ("Jim" - Farmer & Grazier of "Backwoodlands," Narromine)& Francis Paton ("Frank" - Gynaecologist in Sydney) - & a daughter, Mrs Elsa CUTTS.

References

Persondata
NAME = Pigott, Henry Robert Maguire
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH = 2 October 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH = Ceylon
DATE OF DEATH = 8 July 1949
PLACE OF DEATH =